Jimmy’s ‘Expenses’ Start To Grind Him Down On ‘Better Call Saul’

A review of tonight’s Better Call Saul coming up just as soon as I rent a toupee from the toupee store…

“We can make it zero.” -Jimmy

One of the most surprising parts of Better Call Saul — for both the audience and for the people writing the show — is how lovable Jimmy McGill turned out to be. Saul Goodman was a charming scoundrel, but he was still a scoundrel, where we’ve seen a fundamental core of decency and commitment in Jimmy that’s made him more interesting than anyone expected, and has kept the show from transitioning him into Saul far longer than planned. Jimmy’s still a con man on some level, and he still bends many rules and breaks a few — albeit often with noble motives, like the felony he committed to get Kim the client he felt she had rightly earned — but he took care of his brother even after learning of Chuck’s betrayal of him at HHM, he goes to incredible lengths to support Kim, he genuinely enjoys talking to and helping his elderly clients, and he puts in absurd amounts of time and effort to get jobs done when they need doing right. He’s a good guy fighting an internal battle against going back to being bad, and even though we know he’s destined to lose in the end, he’s held on remarkably well to this point.

But he’s also had things relatively easy until now. He didn’t have many material needs — felt more comfortable living in the back of the nail salon than he ever did in his corporate apartment — he had the support of Kim and Mike and even Howard to varying degrees, got a bunch of money from the Davis & Main job, and found an underserved market in the local elder community. He wasn’t always thriving, but even at his lowest, he was doing okay. And it’s easier to be good when you’re not truly struggling.

In “Expenses,” though, he’s struggling. It’s a vintage “in-between moments” kind of Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul-type episode, pausing the action to deal more thoroughly with the repercussions of Jimmy and Kim’s relative victory at the disbarment hearing. Jimmy’s not going to prison, but he still has to do community service, and that eats into the time he has to drum up business. He’s not allowed to practice law for a year, but can’t get a refund on his expensive malpractice insurance policy — and later finds out that his rates will skyrocket when his suspension ends. And the commercial production business, which seemed a plausible and fun way for Jimmy to pay the bills while serving out the suspension, hasn’t really taken off due to the hesitancy of small business owners to pay too much for his services.

As this iteration of “Saul Goodman,” he isn’t yet the man we knew from Breaking Bad, nor is he Slippin’ Jimmy; he’s fast-talking, but not an outright hustler. He believes in this product and thinks it’s mutually beneficial to him and his clients, because we know how easily he could relieve them of their money if that was all he cared about. But you can see the pressure being exerted on him here starting to sour what’s inherently good about him. The parks department supervisor docking him time for talking on his phone makes him resentful of a situation he had come to accept as his own responsibility, and he later turns the man’s taunt on the poor delivery guy who complains about the tiny tip that’s all Jimmy can afford. And when he takes Kim out for a night of Viktor and Giselle fake grifting, he can’t help but take it all seriously, especially when the arrogance of one of their potential marks starts to remind him too much of Chuck.

Kim is alarmed to witness this, but she’s in a bad emotional place in general. Financially, she’s far better off than Jimmy, but she can’t as easily cast off thoughts of what they did to Chuck to get to this point. When Paige at Mesa Verde laughs about the whole thing as if Chuck got what he deserved, it only puts Kim further on edge, leading to a wildly unprofessional outburst as they go over her compliance paperwork. Paige is easy-going enough to let Kim off with an apology, but Kim can’t let her own actions go — not just in that conference room, but at the hearing.

“As far as I’m concerned,” she confesses, “all we did was tear down a sick man.”

Jimmy doesn’t quite see it that way, and as his life spirals further and further from his hopes — the opening shot of him leaning against the brick wall is reminiscent of him in “Amarillo,” but rather than a dazzling white suit and Stetson, he’s in jeans and a ratty sweatshirt, just waiting for the other offenders to join him.

And when the insurance company rep not only doesn’t give him any money back from the now-superfluous policy, but informs him that his premiums will go up 150% due to the suspension, he doesn’t slink out, but instead decides to pile on Chuck some more, by telling her — in between some convincing fake tears — about Chuck’s breakdown before the committee, just to make sure Chuck’s premiums go up, too.

It’s a nasty little trick, as reflected by the half-scowl, half-smirk on his face as he walks out of the insurance office. It was one thing for Jimmy to publicly humiliate Chuck as the only way to avoid disbarment, or worse; that was self-defense, even if Jimmy committed the various crimes that got him into that jam in the first place. In this case, though, Jimmy gains nothing, save for the satisfaction that Chuck shares in this particular part of his punishment. Even if you’re an inveterate Chuck-hater, this doesn’t seem at all the kind of thing the Jimmy McGill we’ve come to know and like would do to his brother.

When Jimmy showed Kim the commercial at the end of last week’s episode, he assured her that “Saul Goodman” was just a name. At the moment, this is true, given that most of the things we’ve come to think about from the Saul persona have yet to fully emerge. But there are lines we know Saul Goodman will cross that Jimmy McGill at this moment in his life simply wouldn’t. Actively hurting his brother this way, trying to rope Kim into a real grift rather than a harmless one… these take him closer to being Saul Goodman than the name itself.

And for him to fully become Saul, his life — and his behavior — will only have to get worse.

Some other thoughts:

* Hey, it’s everyone’s favorite practitioner of the Crybaby Squat Cobbler! Daniel Wormald returns as the tool Nacho is going to use to slip Hector some fake nitroglycerin pills in hopes of killing him without drawing too much attention from the cartel or the Cousins.

* Mike may have himself a romantic interest in Anita from Stacey’s grief support group (played by Law & Order: SVU medical examiner Tamara Tunie). Anita’s comment about the pain of never knowing exactly what happened to her husband may help explain why, years later, Mike was susceptible to Lydia’s plea to not leave her daughter always wondering. But how did that lead him to change his mind about helping Daniel with Nacho? Is he thinking of Daniel vanishing from his family (we know he has a nephew named Pryce)? Or of the good Samaritan driver who got murdered and disappeared by Hector’s men in the wake of Mike’s truck robbery? Mike can spend the money from that heist on good things like the church playground, but he seems unable to let go of the murder that he inadvertently set in motion.

* Something about Jimmy McGill and identical twin brothers, eh? We haven’t seen the skater boys in quite some time, but comedy twins Randy and Jason Sklar play the co-owners of ABQ In Tune.

* Jimmy continues to insist that he can pass as Kevin Costner, a callback to one of Thomas Schnauz’s earliest Breaking Bad scripts, where Saul tells Walt that he once convinced a woman he was Costner, “and it worked because I believed it!” (This was then paid off in the Saul season one finale where we met the lady in question.)

* I couldn’t remember if Jimmy’s film crew had ever been given names, so I asked Schnauz, who explained, “We only call them Camera Guy, Sound Guy and Drama Girl.” There you have it.

The good Samaritan has been haunting Mike all season. Mike taking mercy on Lydia had more to do with Kaylee/Stacey, especially since Lydia’s daughter was 5 years old (around the same age Kaylee lost her father). Plus, Kaylee’s money had just been seized by the DEA, and Vamonos needed Lydia’s methylamine. Hearing Anita’s story reminded Mike that the good Samaritan’s loved ones are likely experiencing the same grief because of the actions he took to take down Hector.

I guess I’m stating the obvious but I’ll ask anyway. When Mike ask Nacho for a favor at the meet for the empty capsules, I’m assuming he’s going to find out if the Good Samaritan was Anita’s husband? Well that don’t make sense, he went missing 8 years ago. Any thoughts on what that favor could be? It sounds like Anita’s husband’s disappearance has some linkage.

Maybe a question related to what Nacho can tell Mike about Gus’s operation? I’m not sure on that one, however, as it would be uncharacteristic for Mike to tip his hand by making Nacho aware that Mike knows anything about Gus.

As you say, Anita’s husband clearly wasn’t the Good Samaritan due to the timeline. I’m hoping that his disappearance doesn’t tie back to the cartel, though, because it grows tiresome if everyone Mike meets – even outside his “work” – is only 1 or 2 degrees of separation from the meth business.

Mike is still a relatively good person at this point in his arc. He’s met Nacho’s father and I think Mike has some measure of respect for Nacho at this point. He probably just doesn’t want to see Nacho dig himself a hole that could get himself and Nacho’s father killed.

Thinking back to Kim and Jimmy’s earlier cons: IIRC, they still have an uncashed check for several thousand dollars made out to “Ice Station Zebra Associates.” It’s certainly clear that Jimmy could use the money, and I’d also think that him cashing the check would be a point of major conflict between Kim and Jimmy.

I suspect that Kim is concerned, at least in the back of her mind, that the destruction of Chuck at the bar hearing could eventually come back to bite her if it inspires Chuck and Howard to retaliate by going after her business relationship with Mesa Verde.

She admittedly looks to be in the clear after being told that Paige read the transcript and laughed off Chuck’s accusations. I think that the whole backstory of that situation with her only client has to be weighing on her though, with both practical and ethical concerns. And, of course, while she never asked Jimmy to do anything with those documents, that’s also the action that set in motion the events that led to his current predicament.

There are plenty of reasons that reflecting on Mesa Verde could cause her to feel a mix of worry and guilt, and it’s an inescapable part of her life because working for that client is how she spends all of her working hours.

I agree. Saul may have put Walt in touch with Gus in BB but that contact came via Mike. And Mike wasn’t a bad guy either. We see instances where Saul is genuinely conflicted in BB, like when he has Francesca phone Hank, pretending to be ABQ PD, I think, telling him Marie had been in an accident. Even Francesca hated doing that. But at the end, Saul knew his only future was as Cinnabon Gene, and he wanted as far away from Walt as possible, given those last scenes in the vacuum repair store. Saul was a genuinely conflicted character.

There are multiple instances in BB where Saul is seemingly OK with the idea of killing people. He also suggests to Walt that Walt should kill Jesse once Jesse starts becoming too big of a liability, which Walt adamantly refuses to do.

Saul was Walter White’s attorney throughout most of Walt’s drug empire. Jimmy might be a nice guy, but as Saul he facilitated a drug empire that lead to many people being murdered. Plus HE FACILITATED A DRUG EMPIRE.

It’s so bizarre how even today people seem to think that Walt making literally tons of meth and distributing it on two continents isn’t really that big of a deal.

@jack_l
Yeah, no. Facilitating a drug empire is only “bad” because it’s illegal, and under suspect circumstances. There is nothing inherently immoral about supplying a product arbitrarily rendered illegal. That’s why Walt is able to remain something of a sympathetic protagonist, until his actions in service to his drug empire bring him across it. Jane, for instance, is a much worse person than a mere drug empire. Walt is not evil because he dealt drugs (though a lot of the resentment against Skylar was probably due to her treating him as such), he is evil because he stole and murdered and let other people be punished for his actions.

When Jimmy tells the insurance rep about Chuck, it feels like his transitional moment of breaking bad. Is it the first instance we’ve seen of him doing something purely out of spite, rather than for profit, love, survival or family?

Is that really a sign of going bad though? Doing something because you’re pissed off in the moment is less commonly held to be evil than abandoning moral or ethical positions for mere profit. Would it be more or less evil if he shot a gun at Chuck because Chuck hurt him in some way…or because he was offered a lot of money to do so? Whatever the scale of the action taken, the relative comparison of the motives remains the same. Hurting your brother because you’re pissed at him, while deplorable is still understandable. Hurting your brother for profit is neither.

It definitely felt like a key transitional moment, even if not necessarily THE pivotal moment. Even within his monologue this transition seemed to be happening – at first it seems like he’s crying as a last ditch effort to get the insurance manager to take pity on him, and then it turns into the spiteful desire to bring Chuck down with him. Wonderful acting.

@mshatzerdc – The thing is, and Jimmy should know this, Chuck doesn’t pay his malpractice insurance premiums. Chuck works for a firm, so the firm foots the bill. Sure, the firm’s overall premiums may go up, but it’ll likely be insignificant (e.g., if the firm already paid ~$1M in premiums, it may now have to pay $1.01M, a 1% increase). I suppose, as an equity partner, Chuck may see a small hit in his distributions, but all of the partners would absorb the additional cost, so his portion would be immaterial.

@Art Vandelay actually you — and Alan — misread Jimmy’s motives here. Jimmy has zero interest in Chuck’s premiums going up — even if HHM didn’t pay Chuck’s premiums, Chuck has plenty of money, and would be negligibly affected by any rate increase. No, what Jimmy wants is for Chuck to be uninsurable period.

Notice the subtle change that comes over Mike (a failed father) when Nacho tells him why he wants Hector dead (to protect his own dad). I really enjoy these two simmering powerhouses onscreen together.

I’m pretty sure Jimmy went into the insurance meeting for the sole purpose of getting chucks insurance revoked. He starts off by giving only his last name so he can casually drop that Charles McGill is his brother. Then the rest will come naturally. This is Jimmy taking revenge on the jerk at the bar through Chuck.

The other thing is that I think Kim will find out that Chuck lost his insurance and blame the woman from Mesa Verde for it. Then she’ll go off on her again and lose them as a client only to find out that Jimmy was the cause of it.

I respectfully disagree: Jimmy has always been really quick on his feet, and I think he went into the meeting with the sole objective of getting a partial refund of his insurance premium (knowing it’s a long shot). But, when he heard the agent mention his brother’s name, that put the wheels in motion when he inevitably got shot down by the agent on his request for a refund, and he instantly thought up the scheme to screw Chuck’s rates.

Jimmy’s breakdown was genuine up until a certain point where he realized he could stick it to Chuck. And this wasn’t a matter of just raising Chuck’s malpractice insurance rates. What Jimmy said will likely cost Chuck his insurance altogether. I’ve predicted since 3.01 that Howard will eventually lose his patience with Chuck. Chuck had already hurt HHM’s reputation BEFORE the bar bearing thanks to Mesa Verde. If Chuck can’t practice law anymore due to revoked insurance, then Howard has no use for him anymore. Thus, he’ll have to buy him out. Ironically, this is exactly what Jimmy tried to get Howard to do in the pilot, only Howard and Chuck refused. I’m sure Howard now wishes he had listened to Jimmy at that point. Furthermore, if Jimmy had changed his practice name, like Howard (on behalf of Chuck) wanted in the pilot, none of these events would’ve played out this way and the brothers would still be brothers.

Keep in mind, Howard tried to get Chuck to sit out the Mesa Verde hearing. He also told Chuck to just let Jimmy’s tape go. He also urged Chuck NOT to take the stand during the bar hearing. Chuck brushed him off each and every time.

Howard was also forced to do Chuck’s bidding for 4 years since Chuck didn’t want Jimmy to know that he was the one who really didn’t want Jimmy working at HHM.

Mark my words, Howard will take a stand against Chuck before this season ends. Sadly, I believe that’ll be the fourth worst tragedy to happen to Chuck McGill this season.

I agree with fade proof, and that explanation also fits much better with Jimmy being even a minimally competent attorney. The insurance policy should specify whether or not he’s due a pro rata refund if it’s cancelled early and, if so, how that refund is calculated.

I hope everyone who is watch BCS also savoured in all of BB. To see how Vince brought this incredical sequel forth is amazing. I have watched BB from day one, going back to see how the actors evolved is so special.
I think Kim feeling bad is not the way a good lawyer should do. She defended her client justly in a court of law. That was her Job. Jimmy illegal doings pale compared to Chucks. He was denying him to ever practice law. Chuck could have made the error, but Jimmy is Jimmy. Bottom line is it looks like Chuck is trying to get the help he needs.
I know there relationship is gone. Jimmy type of law is “Ambulance chasing”. In B.B. The quip and lines are so funny with Walter.!to see Huell as 150 pounds more is something. I don’t know of a show that starts over without knowing that from the beginning.
I have asked this question many times. Why did Mikes daughter in law go to ABQ after her husband was killed? That’s pretty far from Detroit. There are no relatives in ABQ. Of course Mike follows her their. But certainly a nursing job closer would have made sense.
I feel like BCS is going to evolve just like BB did. A cult favorite for sure. I can’t believe it’s Monday and we have to wait till next week. At least it’s back.